Clix seeks to raise $25M to reimagine TV Guide

Driving the news: Clix, an online guide for which films and TV shows to watch, is raising a $25 million funding round and just hired two executives, CMO Stacy Jolna tells Axios.

• The news comes just days after Letterboxd, a social film discovery platform, announced it sold a 60% stake to Canadian technology holding company Tiny, valuing the business at $50 million.
• Last year, Fandom acquired TV Guide and six other entertainment brands in a $50 million deal with Red Ventures. Other competitors include Rotten Tomatoes, bought by Fandango in 2016, and IMDB, owned by Amazon since 1998.
• Digital media brands like Entertainment Weekly, Axios and many others also publish articles with suggestions on what to watch.

Catch up quick: Clix launched an app in 2021 across more than 80 platforms. But the company is now focused on mobile.

• Jolna says Clix has 37 million users, or people who have registered for accounts.

How it works: New users sign up, fill out their profile and select which streaming services they use. The top of the page displays a rotating carousel of shows and what services they are on.

• Users watch a trailer and select if they're interested in the movie or show, which helps personalize future recommendations. Part of the experience is gamified, giving users points for taking actions and making them eligible for giveaways.

• The majority of revenue will come from advertising, Jolna says.

Details: Clix raised $10.5 million in prior rounds.

• Jim Anderson, former chief architect at Spotify and a co-founder of About.com, recently joined as chief innovation officer. Hassan Wharton-Ali, former senior product architect at Hulu, was hired as chief product officer.

The bottom line: "We don't see ourselves as combatants in the streaming wars," Jolna says. "We are allies."